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The Odyssey scholar quotes - Coggle Diagram
The Odyssey scholar quotes
Heroic World - Odysseus
"Odysseus must have both kleos and nostos in order to merit his own heroic status in The Odyssey" - Nagy
"he is a real warrior a social equal to the Phaeacians" - Powell
"Odysseus depends on the kindness of strangers" - Higgins
Different roles of Odysseus - Soldier of fortune, returning king reclaiming his kingdom, seer returns home from vision quest, trickster retracing his steps - Nagy
"Odysseus has made an unfortunate habit of leading young men to their deaths" - Wilson
"Odysseus cannot resist the urge to gain kleos" - Wilson
"Odysseus' dominant qualities are resourcefulness and endurance" - Camps
"help from others does not diminish Odysseys as a hero" - Jones
"by turns a comic character, a tragic hero, a stoic sage, and a villain, Odysseus could never and cannot yet, be pinned down" - Graziosi
"Odysseus is polytropos (ingenious, cunning, of many turns) and it is this which helps him survive" - Silk
"When Odysseus describes the Cyclops' island, he speaks as a colonist. Odysseus is a mythical explorer related to the real-life Greeks who sailed the unknown waters in the archaic age" - Hall
"one of the distinctive features of Odysseus is "the capacity to inspire affection and regard as husband, man, and king." - Camps
"the Polyphemus episode is Odysseus' greatest achievement, partly because it shows off his key quality of metis." - Jones
"his need for cunning is enforced by his own recklessness" - Bowra
Social, political and cultural context
Men and women
"Nausicaa is a foil to durable Penelope" - Silk
"We learn in The Odyssey what it means to be female" - Folit-Wienberg
"first recorded example of a man telling a woman to shut up [Telemachus Book 1]" - Board
"deceit...naturally feminine mode of operation?" - Wilson
"it is wise Queen Arete, not Alcinous who holds the key to Odysseus' homecoming and rehabilitation" - Chrysal
"Nausicaa, Penelope, and Helen are all free to come and go as they please; they are certainly not secluded or segregated from their men. they are active and integral to their respective household" - Chystal
"[Penelope's] veil is "a sign of modesty and chastity". - Jones
"Penelope is "a key to the unity of the poem", and the tension of Penelope's dilemma is treated as seriously as the other tensions in the poem." - Finley
"The 'reverse simile' where Penelope seeing her husband is like a shipwreck survivor seeing the shore reverses their roles - symbolising the value Homer places on Penelope's heroism." - Schein
"The Odyssey traces deep male fears about female power, and it shows the terrible damage done to women" - Wilson
"Bird metaphors are used to represent women - Athena transforms herself into many types of bird, the slave girls are "like doves or thrushes" and Penelope is a "pale grey nightingale". - Wilson
"Odysseus' girlfriends represent the archetypes of womanhood; chaste youth, passionate womanhood, those who refuse to abide by society's rules, loyal wives, and platonic best friends." - Jenkyns
Xenia
"Polyphemus is like the suitors who devour Odysseus' substances but are defeated with a trick" - Higgins
"xenia was an essential functioning of ancient society. in the odyssey it is a way of judging different societies and individuals" - Goldhill
"The suitors are the opposite of the heroic ideal, "a degenerate corruption of heroes." - Bowra
Nostos
"The Odyssey is the final and definitive statement about the theme of a heroic homecoming" - Nagy
"nostos is not only Odysseus' literal return home, but also acts as a metaphor about immortalisation and his return from Hades to 'light and life" - Nagy
"Odysseus' kleos is connected to his nostos. By managing to get home and having a poem about his homecoming, he achieves reputation/kleos. Penelope's steadfastness is also crucial to Odysseus' kleos, as without it he would not be able to achieve his nostos (as she would have married and he could not reunite with her)." - Nagy
"Eating the lotus flowers and losing any desire to go home is a much darker threat than dying honourably in battle." - Morrison
Slaves
"the Odyssey's representation of slaves can hardly be taken for historical truth 'but rather as a sign of an oversimplified representation whereby society is viewed from the perspective of the elite" - Thalmann
"slaves are either shown as 'lacking autonomy and corrupt' or as 'capable because of an innate nobility which is impervious to changes in fortune'" - Thalmann
Heroic world - supernatural
"The Homeric gods are a gang of ill-tempered often ridiculous beings" - Powell
"Ghosts and phantoms play important parts in the plot of the Odyssey. Supernatural dreams also exist, e.g. Penelope's dream of geese being slaughtered by an eagle." - Gregory
"The main reason the gods are in the Odyssey is to shape the plot, e.g. Athena helping Odysseus." - Johnson
"divine intervention is necessary in ensuring the disguise is successful, as well as Odysseus' cunning" - Murnaghan
"The deaths of the suitors are sanctioned by the gods - Athene even helps kills them." - Stanton
"the relationship between Athene and Odysseus is unlike any other mortal/god friendship in its intimacy" - evidenced by the playful conversation they share in Book 13. - Jones
"the gods are a way for the poet to attribute meaning to otherwise random events e.g. storms at sea." - Griffin
Odysseus "needs the advice and favour of the gods if he is to return to Ithaca, but he clearly contemplates his options and makes independent decisions." - Morrison